Artem Case Studies

Crystal Maze 2017 RDF Television

We returned to The Crystal Maze for Channel 4’s new series, hosted by Richard Ayoade. The project has evoked waves of nostalgia for the team, led by Special Effects Supervisor and Co-Founder of Artem, Simon Tayler, who designed and built the complex series of challenges for the cult TV show back in the 1990s.

Over the course of the original six seasons, Artem conceived many of the adventure zone games, provided floor effects, including smoke and pyrotechnics and were also responsible for servicing the shows during recording.

This time, Artem were approached by production designer James Dillon – who also worked on the original series – to supply a fan system for the iconic “start the fans please” sequence at the culmination of each show. Artem had a head start solving this technical conundrum, as they recently installed a similar computer controlled fan system for The Crystal Maze Live attraction in Islington. To bring the vision to life, Artem created a unique ducted air approach which they were able to replicate on set in Bristol.

Tayler says: “It was most uncanny walking around the set as it is almost identical to the original from 20 years ago. We’re thrilled to be involved with the Crystal Maze again after so many years. We have enjoyed the challenge of designing a fan system that can run during show production without any major resetting.”